David Clifford has been confirmed as the Kerry senior football captain for the 2020 campaign.
The prolific forward was nominated by the East Kerry board following the divisional side’s county championship success last year, which gives them the right to choose the county captain.
Having once been widespread, it’s a tradition that remains in practice only in Kerry and Kilkenny now, though moves are currently afoot in the Kingdom to allow the team manager to pick a skipper in future.
Given that he only turns 21 on Wednesday, Clifford most likely wouldn’t be the natural choice for the role if it was Kerry manager Peter Keane’s decision but he was the obvious candidate given that the other two East Kerry players involved with the county team last year, Jack Sherwood and Dara Moynihan, aren’t regular starters.
It has presented difficulties in the past for Kerry and Clifford’s appointment is reminiscent of a similarly youthful Eoin Brosnan captaining the side back in 2001, although the Fossa man is much more established now than Brosnan was back then having already completed two seasons and won a pair of All Star awards.
Incidentally, as Kerry look to go one better than last year when they lost to Dublin after an All-Ireland final replay, no player wearing the number 13, which Clifford has on his back, has even lifted the Sam Maguire Cup.
The most recent Kerry captain to wear the number 13 was Colm Cooper in 2011, when they lost the All-Ireland final to a late Dublin raid.
Although Cooper retained the captaincy the following year, he was wearing the number 14 when they were eliminated by eventual champions Donegal at the quarter-final stage.
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
